The
Detroit Film Theatre presented the 1981 Brazilian film Pixote,
which DFT curator Elliot Wilhelm has described (in his 1999 book VideoHound's
World Cinema) as "one of the most grueling, powerful, and disturbing
films of the last quarter-century." Another highlight of the month
was The Boat
is Full (1981, Switzerland/West Germany/Austria), a drama about
limits on Jewish immigration from Germany to Switzerland during World
War II.

On
February 5 and 6 at the Redford, Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy starred in
Bombshell
(1933), "a hilarious satire about a poor little rich movie star longing
to live a 'normal' life." (David Shipman, The Great Movie Stars:
The Golden Years). Two weeks later, audiences enjoyed Don Haller's
organ music and laughed at the 1963 musical comedy Bye
Bye Birdie (Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, and Ann-Margret). Lively
Caribbean music warmed up winter-chilled patrons on February 27, courtesy
of the 21st Century Steel Band.

On
February 3-6 at the Michigan, The Comic Opera Guild presented La Vie
Parisienne, by Jacques Offenbach. On February 21, the Travel and Adventure
Series of the Ann Arbor Western Kiwanis presented Welcome, New Zealand,
with Robert O'Reilly.